One of the fundamental decisions made when designing a military land vehicle or an off-road vehicle is the choice between wheels and tracks for the vehicle to ride on. Of course, some vehicles are hybrids, having tracks on the rear of the vehicle and wheels on the front. I propose another alternative, which is a wheel assembly where track shoes and tracks replace the tire conventionally mounted on the wheel. My proposed assembly gives vehicle designers another option in the design of future land vehicles.
My assembly comprises a shock absorbing, tracked wheel having a set of spoke-like structures radiating from the assembly's center or spider. These structures include cylinders fixed to the spider and pistons reciprocating in the cylinders. The pistons are biased outward relative to the spider by coil springs in the cylinders. Encircling the pistons are collars that separate the cylinder into two chambers and that have passages therethrough which permit restricted flow from one chamber to the other. The springs' action is dampened by the flow restrictive construction of the collar and its passages. Struts extending from the pistons have track engagement shoes on their outer ends. The shoes have arcuate sectors that engage a track or band in contact with the ground. Turning the struts about their longitudinal axis varies the distance between the cylinders and track shoes so as to adjust tension on the track. The shoes completely clear the track upon sufficient strut rotation, thus allowing the track to be removed from the assembly for repair or replacement.